CBF's Brock Center declared a 'living building'

The Brock Environmental Center in Virginia Beach was just awarded "living building" status for meeting a demanding level of energy and water efficiency.

The Chesapeake Bay Foundation, which built the 10,500-square-foot center as office and meeting space and as a demonstration project for green building technologies, announced the achievement Thursday.

"We set out to show that a building can have remarkable benefits for both the environment and the community," CBF President Will Baker said in a statement. "Now it's a proven concept."

The Brock Center is the only structure in the Southeast to earn the certification, and one of only 11 in the country, according to the International Living Future Institute. The institute is a Portland-based advocacy group that runs the Living Building Challenge

For certification, a structure must excel in seven categories: place, water, energy, health and happiness, materials, equity and beauty. It must also produce more energy than it uses over 12 straight months.

The Brock Center produced 83 percent more energy than it needed by using solar panels and wind turbines, CBF said, and used 80 percent less energy than a building of comparable size. Its monthly electric bill was about $17 — the minimum fee required to connect to the grid.

The center uses a host of other energy-efficient technologies, such as geothermal wells, waterless toilets and natural landscaping. It's also the first and only commercial building in the country permitted to capture and treat rainfall for use as drinking water, CBF said.

The group allows public tours of the building, which has had more than 30,000 visitors since it opened in late 2014.